Battle Scars
by Mishi100
Summary: "See, now you look like you have battle scars!" he exclaimed, brimming with the joy of a million lights. "Don't say a word—you know they fit you!" Some things just don't change; but it's hard to notice when things are changing all around you anyway. A Digimon x KH crossover, in which Taichi and Yamato end up in the first place they need to be, but in the last place they want to be.
1. Something - Age 5

**Summary: "See, now you look like you have battle scars!" he exclaimed, brimming with the joy of a million lights. "Don't say a word—you know they fit you!" Some things just don't change; but it's hard to notice when things are changing all around you anyway. A Digimon x KH crossover, in which Taichi and Yamato end up in the first place they need to be, but in ****the last place they want to be.**

It was a little unnerving to say that the older brother of the next princess in line and the older brother of said princess' future spouse was inseparable at birth. At one point, someone had the gall to point out that maybe they arranged their siblings' marriage from the start.

No, they did not, because they were just a few years older than their younger siblings. And that would be especially trying for their parents if a royal marriage was to be determined by the eldest sibling.

_Especially_ trying for the specific parents of those two specific eldest siblings.

(However, it wasn't like anyone would've had it any other way, since they seemed so happy together. So there wasn't much judgement on that part).

The Princess of Japan's Light, Yagami Hikari, was to marry with Ishida Takeru, a small boy with the might of all of his knightly-ancestries before him. Was Hikari interested in Takeru's knightly-ancestries? Taichi will never truly know—although he does know that his younger sister's judgement is pretty great, so he knows what Hikari sees in Takeru is true.

Not everything was supposed to turn out happily, however.

When Taichi was a newborn, he arrived with a sword and shield in hand. Or, at least, that's what his mother used to tell him, no matter how true or false it may have seemed. A sword and shield was what Taichi ended up wielding anyway, as he grew older.

There were a few... interesting somethings about the first day he was allowed outside of the bed he called a training room and into the Royal Apprentice's Training Grounds. One; he met someone that wasn't supposed to be there. Two; the people he saw were fighting really, _really _well.

Three...

"Hey, how come you guys were let out so early?"

The two people in question turned their heads towards the voice, giving him a few moments of "glare-time." Why? Well, the two people in question looked like they'd be around the same age as him. Well, at least one of them do... he couldn't tell how the other person looked like. They sure seemed to like their armour sealed up tight.

The one who wasn't covered in armour that wouldn't make him sweat until he was dry had a dirty blond mop of hair on his head. He gave off a commanding attitude, alike to the one that his father used whenever Taichi reached his hand too far into the cookie jar. This was further anunciated by his sharp voice, "What's it to you? We're training, aren't we? That's what these grounds were made for."

The armour-clad person was abashedly tucking their sword behind them. The voice that came out was not at all what Taichi was expecting, "Well, I guess we did kind of _sneak out..._"

Taichi's mouth circled into a neat, little window, as the blond boy's hands went to try to cover up the other's mumbling. _"Shhh, _do you _want _to get in trouble?"

But the dent was already made. "Wait, you're a _girl?_"

Said armour-clad girl seemed really offended at this, even going as far as taking her helmet off and throwing it on the ground indignantly. "_Yeah_, well, what's it to you? I can fight too, you know!"

Taichi lifted his hands up, ready to go back to his room instead of staying in such an awkward conversation. "I-I didn't mean anything bad by it! I think it's pretty cool, actually!"

The girl blinked a few times. "R... really?"

"Yeah!" Taichi replied. "We should spar a few times soon! You guys seemed really good at it!"

The girl turned her head towards the blond boy. "Well... I guess it wouldn't hurt to try. What do you think, Yamato?"

He crossed his arms. "No, it wouldn't. But... no one else will catch wind of this. Or else you're toast."

Taichi laughed. "Hey, that's my line! See?" He sparked up a bit of Fira magic from his hands. "I don't burn!"

The girl snickered a bit, while Yamato rolled his eyes. He raised up his sword defensively. "Well, if you're done cracking jokes, I think it's time to continue what we came here for."

Both Taichi and the girl gave knowing smiles to each other, then lifted both of their swords at Yamato. "Well, then, I won't go easy on you!"

"I hope you weren't planning to in the first place," the blonde snarked. "And don't gang up on me! It's a one-for-all!"

They were all a few interesting somethings, that's for sure.

**AN: I planned this to be a one-shot... but the idea of Tai and Matt being the equivalent to Lea and Isa was too tempting for me. Don't worry—if you don't know who I'm talking about, that's okay, because I'm going to be making different variation to how I'm fitting Matt and Tai into the world of Kingdom Hearts. I have a whole AU, actually, if anyone would like to hear me ramble about it in the DMs. With that being said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm gonna make this fanfiction a bit short on the short side, but trust me, we'll be getting into the angst soon! Thanks for stopping by!**


	2. Things Burn - Age 9

"...This is childish."

"No, it's necessary!" Taichi retorted in reply, a tub of paint neatly nestled in one arm.

"You sure have a problem with mixing up the words 'necessary' and 'stupid,'" Yamato said, squinting his eyes shut nevertheless. "We came here to find her, not play another war game."

"But we have to be disguised and ready!" The small brunette, now at a healthy, warrior age of 9, dipped two small fingers into the paint bucket. "Someone's gonna recognize both of us, and then it'll be back to the training grounds we go. This way, we'll be able to sneak in properly!"

Yamato sighed in exasperation. Sometimes, he didn't understand why he put up with his friend's silliness. Taichi sure was something, but was he willing to risk his other friend for another one of his games? A childhood, cherished friend, no less?

Maybe he shouldn't have told Taichi about not seeing Sora in her quarters after all. But then again...

When Yamato opened his right eye, just a breadth of a bit, he could see worry lining the brown iris' of his friend's eyes. Maybe Yamato wasn't the only one upset at this revelation, so he trusts Taichi to guide the both of them in their worry.

Then again, wasn't _he _supposed to be responsible for the both of them? It sure seemed that way sometimes.

"Stop thinking and close your mouth, or else the paint will get in!" Taichi made a move to drag his blue-painted fingers across the sides of Yamato's cheek. He hadn't realized his mouth was puckered and opened in thought while he was thinking. Nor did he realize that Taichi knew him well enough to know that he was currently thinking.

The brunette paused when he moved to paint Yamato's right cheek. "We're gonna find her, Matt. Don't worry too much."

Yamato bit his lower lip, still keeping his eyes closed. He was that readable, wasn't he? He was sure that Taichi could barely see him as well, as they were currently hiding in a damp and dark cleaning closet. But that didn't seem like it could stop Taichi from trying to empathize with the person in his closest vincinty right now.

He heard a bucket clamour softly to the ground. Through his eyelids, he could see that the closet had brightened up, and his face had gotten warmer. "I can't get burnt, remember?" Taichi said, as soft as the fire currently in his lap. "So just tell me before we save Sora. If you even want to save her, if you don't know if we can—"

Yamato let out a steady breath, steady enough to keep the fire in his lap ablaze. "Of course I want to save her, it's just..."

"...Yamato, open your eyes."

He did as he was told. What he saw was not just one small fire in his lap, but a million others in the room around them. Nothing seemed to be getting burnt. "T-Taichi, what are you-?"

"If everything else in this room can't get burnt, you can't either, Matt." Taichi let the small fire in Yamato's lap go. It didn't burn him, nor did it go out in smoke. "If you care about something that much... you can help them without hurting everyone else. Pushing everyone else away." Taichi grinned. "Because I know that's what you like to do, what you don't intend to do, but you do anyway, out of your own control." Yamato winced. So he knew about what happens if the blonde stayed out in the dark for too long, under the moonlight for too long. It wasn't exactly a pleasant feeling, turning into the literal embodiment of hurt and rage and—

Taichi saw him wince. He moved to pick up the nearly forgotten paint bucket on the closet floor, dipping his fingers into the paint once again. The small fires still haven't gone out. "So... don't be afraid to do the right thing, when it comes down to it. Because I can't get burnt and I won't let myself be burnt, if it means you finally get to do what you want, not influenced by any weird powers or weird parents or anything like that. I know you want to save Sora—so we will." Taichi didn't say anything about what _he _wanted, but that was alright, because when you were teaching lessons, you have to think of the student in front of you. Or, as Taichi would like to put it, the friend in front of you. And his friend wanted to find Sora, so Taichi wants to make sure he finds her, because he knew Yamato and his little, hurt and angry demons.

Yamato smiled inwardly, refusing to show his newfound happiness to his friend. "When did you get all philosophical?"

Taichi snickered. "When you decided to get all mopey. But then again, it's not like you always aren't."

The brunette dodged a hefty punch to the shoulder, still balancing the paint bucket in one arm and his painted fingers in the other. "Don't move me, or you'll mess up the paint!"

Yamato sat back down, this time having trouble containing the grin that had sprung to his face. Taichi continued to work, the small fires around them still glowing with the same intensity as they did before. "How exactly did you get your Fira magic so strong?"

Taichi shrugged. "A lot of practising, I guess. I can even do it in the water!" He made a move to stick one of the small fires around them into the paint bucket, when Yamato quickly moved to stop him, remembering how easily flammable paint was.

"That's not water, it's paint," Yamato said. "You can show me afterwards."

Taichi rolled his eyes, and continued to add the paint to Yamato's cheeks. They sat there in comfortable silence for a while.

Taichi wiped his hands on his pants standing up to admire his work, "You can get up now! Hold on, actually, I think I can find a mirror!" Yamato sat on the ground as he watched the brunette navigate the closet using his small sparks of light. The blonde rolled his shoulders to give the rest of his body a wake up call from sitting for so long. As he stretched, he saw Taichi hop back from a corner of the closet, a small pocket mirror in his painted fingers.

He handed the mirror over to Yamato. "See, now you look like you have battle scars!" he exclaimed, brimming with the joy and warmth of the million lights around them. "Don't say a word—you know, I think they fit you!"

And they certainly did—the four long, blue lines acting as two sets of claw marks on the sides of his face gave him more confidence. More confidence about his ability to control his ability. Because even though they reminded him of his unstable powers, even though they reminded him of his inhumane form, at least he knew that the marks were added by someone who trusted what he himself didn't.

And that was decidedly the most anyone could do to compliment him. So, of course, he greeted a long-time-no-see smile in the mirror as his friend moved to guide the both of them out of the closet.

**AN: Let it be said that I enjoy the dynamics these two had in Digimon, and I would've loved to see it with Lea and Isa (because they're way too similar, and nothing can change that). And with KHIII, I think I'll be getting my wish. :P Has anyone noticed the references as well? But anyways, what happened to Sora? Where exactly is she? I'll let you know in the next chapter. ;) Thanks for continuing to read this story!**


	3. Things Change - Age 9

On that day, the boys broke every rule they knew in order to find Sora. They went into rooms they weren't allowed to go into, climbed over the fence that blocked the Kingdom of Japan from the rest of Japan, travelled through the creepy forest with the creepy-faced trees... but they still couldn't find a thing.

They were a little more than surprised that their costumes worked well—maybe a bit too well. Apparently, no one thought it was suspicious to see 2 nine year-old boys galavanting around with colourful paint covering their body head to toe. Taichi pointed this out to an equally confused Yamato.

"I don't really know," Yamato replied with a shrug. "Maybe it's normal for kids to be covered in paint here? We don't exactly live in what the majority of Japan does."

Taichi took a mental note of that. And it was true, he surmised—they literally lived in a palace. From the top, he could see millions of other little houses. People obviously lived in them, so it was safe to say that he didn't exactly live in what he'd called "normal." Or maybe there were more palaces...? The one in Japan can't be the only one.

Yamato tugged on Taichi's arm to move him to the side, putting a finger to his lips. "I hear someone coming. Let's hide."

As they moved to the tallest tree they could find and sat on one of the branches, a few minutes later, the brunette heard small footsteps coming towards them. _How could Matt hear them? _Taichi thought to himself. He decided super-hearing just came with the rest of Yamato's weird moon powers, so he kept quiet about it.

As the small footsteps grew louder, Yamato peaked his head out to see a small red-head come closer. The boy didn't seem to notice them, until—

_ZAP!_

Both of the boys in the tree felt a shock climb up their body and felt their bodies tumble towards the ground, pulled by an invisible force. The red-haired boy took the moment to silently gasp as Taichi and Yamato winced.

"What are you two doing here?" the red-head asked. "I don't believe you're supposed to be here, this place is off limits to unauthorized guards... wait..." He scrunched his eyes at the two shocked boys, taking a step back as he did so. "You... you're the son of the Queen of Light!" he exclaimed, pointing at Taichi. He moved his gaze towards Yamato. "And you're the son of the commanding general!"

Yamato crossed his arms as he stood unsteadily, trying to take control of the situation. "Yeah, that's us. And who are you supposed to be?"

"My name's Izumi Koushiro," he replied, "apprentice to Ms. Himekawa... but..." Koushiro trailed his gaze between the both of them. "I... I don't think you guys should be here."

"Why not?" Taichi piped up.

Koushiro shook his head sadly. "I... I don't think I'm supposed to be telling you guys either. But..." He took a deep breath. "Something's happened at the royal lab. Something bad. And no one wants to go back there... at least, no one but Ms. Himekawa."

Yamato uncrossed his arms, confusion lining the sides of his eyes. "What do you mean, 'something bad'...? Wait..." He nearly threw himself onto the small boy. "Do you know a girl named Sora Takenouchi?"

Taichi pulled his friend back, seeing how uncomfortable Koushiro was getting. He couldn't help but growl either, though. "Was she in the lab?"

"No... yes...?" Koushiro shook his head again. "I'm... not supposed to be telling you anything, especially not the two of you..."

"What do you mean?" Yamato snarled. "We're her best friends—she's been missing for three days! Her parents are worried sick, _we're _worried sick! We just want her back!"

Koushiro bit his lip, uncertainty evident in his eyes. "I... I think I can get you to her. But... we have to do our best not to get caught, or else all three of us are going to become her lab rats."

_Lab rats...? _Taichi thought to himself. Was that what happened to Sora? Was she caught by this '_her' _and made into an experiment...?

Why didn't anyone else care about this? And this was happening in the Royal Lab...?

Who exactly was supervising all of this? Stealing children for experiments?

"Hey, Koushiro," Taichi turned to the boy. He wasn't even their age, but... "Who exactly is Ms. Himekawa?"

The red-head flinched, electric charges building around him. He calmed down after a small while, though. "She... she's my mentor. But sometimes, she doesn't have the best interests in mind for everyone... so we need to find your friend. Now or soon."

Taichi nodded his head along, noticing that Yamato wasn't doing anything but standing there. "Matt, remember what I said before? Don't worry. Let's just focus on getting her out of there."

Yamato took a few breaths, but calmed down as well. "Yeah... yeah, let's do it."

They followed their new friend out of the forest, hope and uncertainty following them in their wake.

* * *

"Here, you should be able to find what you're looking for if you go through these files," Koushiro said once they snuck into the Information Room.

"Thanks, Koushiro," Taichi nodded back. He clicked open a computer and began moving the mouse towards the white search box, when a small beep was heard.

PASSWORD NEEDED

Koushiro squinted his eyes at the computer, then moved to gently push Taichi out of the way so he could work with the familiar computer. "I'll get this booted up and online. There should be physical files in the cabinet, to your right."

Taichi looked to where Yamato was already standing, and got up to look through some of the files with him. Yamato looked like he was gradually gaining concern for some of the files. "Taichi... I think you should take a look at this." Yamato passed a pink file over to Taichi, moving out of the way so he could look for more files.

On the front was a label, reading _HIKARI YAGAMI._

Taichi took a quiet gulp and began reading.

_MODERATING SUBJECT:_

_Hikari Yagami, next in line to the throne of Japan after Taichi Yagami. Age as of annual update: 6 Years. She suffers from monthly sickness, and as such, is treated monthly. Reports are written every month._

_Month 1: Age 5_

_The first time the subject was admitted into the lab. She inhaled carbon monoxide from a Fira spell casted by her older brother. After a sudden fight between her parents, the throne was switched given to the subject. More research needed._

_Month 2: Age 5_

_No data needed to be recorded. Continue moderating until an outlier is observed._

_Month 15: Age 6_

_New abilities discovered. Noted that her abilities conspired much later than usual. Could be due to sickness. Possible profile as a Princess of Light hypothesized. Must be proven with further research._

_Month 16: Age 6_

_New abilities discovered. Profiled as a Princess of Light due to nature of abilities. Continue moderating until an outlier is observed._

_Month 20, Age 6_

_She is definitely a Princess of Light. More frequent meetings are scheduled at a later time. Possible experimentation must be documented._

_Month 21, Age 6_

_No data recorded._

...the file had ended there. He hadn't noticed Koushiro coming to tell him that he had finished running the computer and files on Sora, nor had he noticed Yamato tugging his arm to show him what else he had found.

Nothing registered to him. He was... he was responsible for his sister's sickness.

He remembered now.

And now... these _creeps... _they want his sister.

...he couldn't take it anymore, collapsing into a fetal position. Banging was heard at the door. Another _zap _was heard, the lights turning off beneath his eyelids, but he couldn't think straight right now.

What were they... what were they planning to do to his sister, then?

In a last-ditch attempt to try to save whatever he had left, because no one will take his sister, he can't let it happen again—

He pushed Koushiro out of the window with the pink file in hand. He couldn't remember what he had shouted, but Koushiro seemed to understand anyway.

As the door pushed open to reveal a brown-haired women in a white lab coat, Taichi and Yamato were already through her legs and out the door, running and hiding through the darkness so they don't end up as lab rats either.

...Yamato still couldn't see Taichi's eyes clearly, even as they hid in another closet, lit up by another one of Taichi's little Fira spells.

**AN: ...Oops. Two more chapters left. :3**


	4. Things Break - Age 9

Yamato woke up with cotton in his mouth and a back pierced with invisible needles.

...suffice to say, everything _hurt._

His head spun around, moving walls closer to him, moving walls in _general. _His sense of direction was totally in shambles, even as he tried to move his head to what he thought was up to inhale large bouts of oxygen.

He could barely think... and where exactly was he?

_Yamato felt the moonrock coming closer and closer. The weather outside was peppy and unnaturally bright, the sun's rays easily reflecting onto the moonrock and into his eyes._

_Everything _hurt so badly, _he wanted to escape. He wanted the pain to go away with everything else—all of the strange men and women in white lab coats, all of the strange white walls, all of the strange white people._

_Everything was white, and it _blinded him _until it _HURT.

He winced. He couldn't remember a single thing except white. He couldn't remember anything but the pain.

His eyes still hurt, but nevertheless, he directed them onto his brunette friend, laying on the floor with three claw marks through his face.

_He just wanted the pain to go away. The pain of losing your childhood friend, the pain of having to sit there and read through those experiments, the pain of what he could've sworn were echoes in the wind of dead experiments._

_The dead children were still crying, still crying their hearts out, and all they could feel was _pain.

_He had to let it out, he had to let it out somehow—_

_So he clung onto the moonrock like an anchor and looked for the most colourful thing in the room, something that wasn't white, something that wasn't inhumane like _them—

_And struck._

_...the cries of the pain of the dead children only grew louder._

Yamato moved towards Taichi, his friend still lying against a wall, hands chained with thick, metal clasps.

He only realized that whoever had put them there thought Yamato to be trustworthy enough to not be chained.

That thought passed through his mind very briefly.

Taichi was still asleep, even with the cries of dead children still ringing in his ears. Taichi probably couldn't hear them, even if they were _so loud._

"Taichi...?" Yamato nudged him a bit, being careful not to move his head so the already spilling blood won't spill further. Yamato himself was too tired to get up and find something to heal it with. "Tai...? Are you alright?"

When he realized that Taichi wasn't going to answer anytime soon, he wept.

_His claws were long and sharp as they sliced across the face of the small, colourful figure in front of him. More colour was added to the scenery—bright, cherry red, like the apples his mom used to put into delicious apple pie._

_The cries were only growing louder._

_He felt warm, as warm as a fire he had felt not so long ago. He let himself fall away from the Waking World, if only to catch a drift of that warmth again._

_His squinted eyes saw something even brighter, a bright, bright pink. But... it wasn't blinding._

_It looked warm, but it felt like... himself._

_He realized that his own heart had escaped him a little too late, and fell as the rest of his body drifted off to the darkness of the Sleeping Realms._

Once his senses has returned to him, Yamato moved to get up, to do _something _to help his friend.

...He wished he could feel some sort of warmth around him.

Picking up the disinfectant that seemed too close to be true, he waddled over to the brunette.

He felt Taichi's chest. Nothing was familiar—nothing was _beating._

He quickly felt his own chest. Nothing was beating there, either.

He figured that both of their hearts had escaped them, leaving them to the darkness of the Sleeping Realms.

Nothing could've proven this, though, but he put the disinfectant on his friend's scars anyway.

As he moved to place the disinfectant to his right, he felt a bit of movement from the brunette. Yamato bit his lip, waiting to see if the movement was actually from Taichi or from Yamato's rushed and worried nudges to ease his friend out of sleep.

Golden eyes blinked open in response.

Yamato numbly wondered if that was supposed to be normal when a door creaked open behind him.

"I'm glad you two are awake," the women said at the door. Yamato surmised that she was the mysterious Ms. Himekawa Koushiro has been talking about before. "You must be confused, right?"

Yamato glared in response. Taichi continued to stare blankly at the floor.

When no one decided to speak, Yamato took that as a chance to ask some questions. "Where's Sora? Why were you tracking Taichi's sister? Why have you been stealig children?" He didn't dare say anything about Koushiro, lest he get in as much trouble as them.

Ms. Hamikawa kneeled to Yamato's level, as if she were a parent lecturing a child. Which she was, as Yamato was only 9, but that didn't mean he was any less angry at her. "I can answer those questions for you, Nameless Child," she said with such dignity and contempt. And _nameless? _Yamato knew his name, it was Ishida Yamato. He flinched back as she drew out a large blade. It didn't look like any sword back at the training grounds. "You must've seen your heart escape you, as did your friend, did you not?"

Yamato wanted to shake his head no, but _yes, _he did, because it was the only damn colourful thing he could've seen in that room. The white room with the white walls and the white lab coats and the white people... he couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't take the pain anymore.

He grabbed the nearest weapon-like thing next to him, making a move to swing at Ms. Himekawa, when the room burst into flames.

_W-what-?_

These flames weren't like the tiny ones in the closet. These flames _burnt, _nipping at his skin in waves, wrapping around the white room to create a circle of literal hell fire. Yamato turned his head towards the brunette, still sitting on the floor, still looking blankly at the ground with those unfamiliar, golden eyes of his.

Yamato wanted to weep once more, but there was no time for that. If the fire wasn't here to help him, then that didn't matter, because all he needed was to get Ms. Himekawa _out._

So he swung the weapon again, watching as, this time, Ms. Himekawa blocked it with that strange blade of hers.

The fire kept growing.

"See?" Ms. Himekawa scolded softly, still acting like the parent Yamato never needed. "Who you were doesn't exist anymore—_you _don't exist anymore. Your friend has already accepted his nameless fate as a Nobody, and so chose to gain a new one in acknowledgment to this." Yamato wanted to retort, because _no, _Taichi would never do that, he would never look reality in the face and say that it can stay, because he was always looking to help others and people without any care for himself—

—which is why it made even more sense that Taichi accepted his fate.

Because he must've believed he was no use to anyone as a Nobody, a person without a heart. A person who couldn't feel anything for anyone anymore, because he didn't truly _exist _anymore.

And coupled with the sudden revelation as to who had caused his little sister's sickness?

Realization came to him as quick as a brick to the face. He turned his head back to the brunette. "Taichi, you can't possibly be listening to her! You aren't a Nobody, why else would you still care about your sister? Sure, maybe you think you might've been selfish, maybe you think that you still are, but you aren't!" He went up close to the brunette, still lying on the floor, still staring at the ground. Yamato tensed his shoulders as those golden eyes trailed towards him, but kept on shouting. "Don't be stupid, Taichi. Look at me—I lost my heart, too. We're both Nobodies, but... I..." Yamato bit his lip as the brunette's head tilted. The flames were dying down now. "...I still want Sora back. I still have no idea what's going to happen to T.K. after this, I have no idea what's going to happen to everyone else back home... and I want to keep them safe. I can still _feel, _so that must be good enough. So, if we lost our hearts? So, if we probably don't exist anymore? That doesn't mean we still aren't here to try and protect what we have, so we don't have to listen to Himekawa, because—"

"I should've never trusted you."

Yamato's eyes widened. A hand subconsciously leapt to grasp at the 'battle scars' on his face. He was right—he was the one who hurt Taichi in the first place. The one who turned him into a Nobody, the one who had clawed his heart from his body...

...he was a monster. Exactly what his mom said he was, exactly what everyone said he was.

The brunette's eyes were still trailed on him, even as the hurt crept onto Yamato's face. He let out what was supposed to be a chuckle, but mixed in with a pitiful sob and a hiccup. "See? I can't care anymore. Ms. Himekawa was right, Nameless Child... we aren't who we were before, are we? Because we were actually Somebodies. Now...?" The brunette shook his head, still seeming small to Yamato, but his words cracked him deep in his core, "Now... we just aren't. We're Nobodies—we have no right to exist in the place of the hearts that escaped us. Because we're just shells.

Himekawa's blade drew closer to Yamato, the blonde boy finally realizing that this wasn't a battle he could win. He still tried his hardest to glare the adult down, because she couldn't do this to them. Surely, someone would realize that they were missing, and they'd come. Taichi was the son of the Queen of Light, and he was the son of the commanding general in her army. They won't be gone unnoticed.

So Yamato kept up hope, hope that someone would come and save them from the pit that they had dug themselves. Even as the blade drew closer, even as Yamato could see the end of him and the beginning of whoever Himekawa sought him to be, he still grasped onto that hope.

Because even if he had lost this battle, he hadn't lost the war yet, and he won't. Not for his sake, not for Sora's sake, not for T.K.s sake...

...so he swore that he'll get back what both Taichi and him had lost that day. No matter the cost.

**AN: ...Big oops. But hey, one more chapter left!! Please note that this whole fanfic was just to feed my guilty pleasures. And that includes everything ranging from Yamato and Taichi friendship angst, to Taichi angst in general, to friendship angst in general. If you'd like to hear about what Hikari and T.K. did after Koushiro get word to them, and/or what happened to Koushiro, I'd be happy to tell you!! :D But we have one more chapter left, so let's wait on it, shall we? :3c**


	5. Nothing - Age 14

It's been a long time since that day.

When Taichi and Yamato finally escaped from the white rooms of the royal Lab (no, not really _escaped, _more like stumbled out of the forest with a concerned Himekawa, telling their parents that they should be kept closer so that they don't interfere with the scientists), they came to the palace with silence.

Everyone was rushing around, the whole place was hectic, and apparently both Hikari and Takeru were missing. Taichi silently let himself have a happy moment, because that meant that Hikari was safe from whatever Himekawa was going to do to her. Then Taichi gave himself a reprimand because the Nobody he was probably only wanted Hikari gone so he could take the throne.

He remembered his parents asking him a lot of questions. He still stood in silence, wondering if they knew anything about the Royal Lab. They probably didn't, or else they wouldn't have sent him and Yamato back there to figure out why their hearts had stopped beating.

Why was the information so well kept? It didn't make any sense to him. This information... if word got out that someone could live without their embodiment of a heart, it could probably help a lot more people.

But then people would ask what experiments were conducted to prove it. And that would've become a gray area in itself, because with experiments, there'd always be failures. And failures meant dead children—children who had both no heart and no body, and so were simply dead.

At least they rested in peace, Taichi thought to himself.

Because now, with Hikari gone, he had to juggle both her responsibilities as the heir to the throne and his duties as a knight. Topped with the fact that he was now Himekawa's lab rat, under the guise that he was just sick with an undead heart, was just...

To say the least, it was tough to stomach.

The only times he ever saw Yamato now were when they were in the lab—when Taichi was Xitachi and Yamato was Toyamax. They didn't particularly like their new names, but it was a tad bit better than being called something they currently don't have a right to be called.

Had they forgiven each other, even? Like how friends usually would? Like how Taichi and Yamato usually would?

No, Xitachi figured. And that was why he was able to create Fira spells that burnt, create them without remorse, as he played Himekawa's little games of _fight, fight, fight. _He had no trouble creating even more harmful fires, because he was saving only the comforting and familiar ones for his sister for when he finds her.

Was he being stubborn? No, he just had priorities. So he'll find his sister, tell her to come back (because he couldn't do this without her, couldn't stomach the _guilt_ without her and her light), and make sure they live peacefully back at the palace, protected from Himekawa and whatever other lab rats there were.

Nothing will stop him. Not even the shell of what used to be Taichi's friend.

Xitachi will make this right, because obviously, Taichi couldn't do a single thing to help.

_When a little, 6-year old Hikari Yagami got the strange message from the strange boy telling her to escape, she had ran as fast as she could with Takeru Takaishi's arm in hand._

_No, neither of them were dead (yet), because Koushiro did everything he could do to help them over the fence and into a small ship._

_He had set the coordinates for the outskirts of Japan, near the shorelines, so that Hikari and Takeru would still feel familiar and welcomed—familiar enough to be welcomed, but not enough to be recognized as the heir to the Kingdom of Japan._

_He safely stored the pink file away on the ship, because he knew the two little kids would only ask questions later on in their life. Once he knew that they had left safely, he drifted into the Sleeping Realms, because what else could 8 year-old boys do at such a trying time as that?_

Hikari woke up in a sweat, the now 11 year-old girl waking up to find Takeru's arms draped over her bed, said boy sitting on a chair and resting.

She smiled softly—if Daisuke had walked into their room like that, he probably would've made a mad dash to a pretend-sleeping Hikari and drape his arms over her, too.

Alas, Daisuke had walked in, but he walked in with concern as he saw the puffy red eyes of his new friend.

"Hikari...? Are you alright...?" he asked politely, walking up to her slowly.

Hikari shook her head, a smile still on her face. She just had the strangest dream—that her brother was alright, and had given both her and Takeru ice cream for being brave enough to go over the fence and into the rest of Japan without getting in trouble.

But as the sky above them darkened, pulsating at a certain cave the three of them always used to visit for the past 5 years, she wept.

Because that meant she had to go back to the Kingdom. The one her brother had wanted her to stay away from because 'something bad' had happened there. And she had no idea how to feel about that.

Hikari watched as she saw Daisuke run out the door to see what was happening. She pulled the sleeping Takeru onto her back as she followed quietly.

_...How long will it be until we finally see each other again, Onii-chan?_

_Until I can feel those warm fires again?_

"Don't be afraid," she had told herself. "You hold the mightiest weapon of all..."

**AN: ...and that's a wrap! Basically, Hikari and Takeru ended up in Daisuke's place. No one gets separated after this, but there are a few... reunions... that aren't exactly pleasant for any of them. But Taichi and Yamato?? I have no idea who you're talking about, I can only see Xitachi and Toyamax here... :3c**


End file.
